BREAKING: Bottas Receives Penalty for Changing Gearbox!

Valtteri Bottas has received a grid-penalty of five places for changing the gearbox of his car ahead of the Australian Grand Prix tomorrow, after the Finn crashed his W09 in the early stages of Q3 in qualifying.

Bottas already had to start in tenth place, as he crashed his car in Q3 before he set a time. The main question after the crash though was whether any parts would need replacing (apart from the wheel that came off) and if any of those replacements could result in a grid penalty. A gearbox change, which Mercedes boss Toto Wolff confirmed was needed, results in a five-place penalty. Bottas will now start from fifteenth instead of tenth.

It's common for gearboxes to break when a car hits the wall sideways, and this nightmare has become a reality for Bottas. His teammate Lewis Hamilton will have to try and bring home the bacon for Mercedes, as he starts from pole position. Hamilton starting from pole also shows that the W09 is capable of great things, so Bottas will have to mount quite a comeback in order to please his team.